Bets Are Placed
by MrReviewerGuy
Summary: Our favorite kick-ass females have switched places! Will they survive, or will they be destroyed by the ravenous forces of their opposite's Universe? T for some swearing, gore, and pulse-pounding AWESOMENESS!
1. Cards Are Down

**What is up, my friends? I know! Another new story! Because my previous track record with finishing stories is so perfect! Well, too bad! HA HA HAAAA! AH HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! …Achem. Anyway, here's my new story.**

**O**

**Prologue**

_Apartments. Street level._

Zoey's POV

Zoey shot a quick look down the hallway. Nothing. Just a pile of dead bodies. Perfect. Swinging her pistols to the front, Zoey crept down the hallway, keeping an eye on the doors on either side. Any number of infected could be in them, just waiting to tear her apart. Thank god for bullets. Seeing no immediate danger, she called back to her partners, Bill, Francis and Louis.

"All clear you guys!"

"About time! Could ya take any longer, Zoe?"

"Quiet, Francis. You want all the infected hearin' us for miles?"  
"Aw, stow it, Bill." Listening to her friends bickering, Zoey couldn't help but laugh. Here they were, in the middle of the human apocalypse, endless swarms of flesh craving monsters waiting to rip them apart, no hope of survival, and they were bickering like it was any other day. She didn't know what she would do without them. Die, probably. Then, out of the corner of her eye, movement!

"Hold up, guys. I see something." Peering into the room, she saw it again. A suit, clean, pristine, moving away from her. Walking too calmly, too focused to be an infected.

"Guys, I found a survivor! I'm going to get him!"

"Wait, what?" Ignoring her friend's protests, she ran around the corner, guns ahead of her. For a split second, she saw a face. A smile and a wave, then an immense pressure blinded her. It felt as if she was in a vise, crushing her from every angle, even pressing out from the inside. There was a pop, and with a scream, she was falling into nothingness.

"Wait, Zoey? Where'd you go?"

**O**

_Black Mesa East. Combine attack._

Gordon's POV

"Gordon, I can't leave my father! You'll have to go through Ravenholm!" Wait, what was that? Through the rubble, in the dust, was that a face? Right behind Alyx! The Gman? What is he doing here?"Dog, help Gordon get out of here!"

And she was gone. Running through the dust, right past the Gman, rubble falling around her, gunshots firing, Combine dying. I had no choice. I turned back down the tunnel, Dog running ahead of me, whooping every once and a while. I jogged after him until we reached the huge steel gate to Ravenholm, which Dog effortlessly lifted. Ducking under it, I turned in time to see Dog drop it, with him on the opposite side. Wordlessly I nodded, knowing it was his duty to protect Alyx. I began walking down the tunnel, using my new Gravity Gun to blast stacked furniture and steel crates out of the way. Move over, crowbar. I might have a new favorite.

Continuing through the passage, I couldn't help but think there was a reason for all of these "Do not pass" signs, and barricades at every doorway. No way for me to go back though, so I keep going. Reaching a flooded part of the passage, I stopped, considering. My Geiger Counter wasn't ticking, so I assumed it was safe.

Reaching a gated ladder, I smashed the lock over it, letting the gate swing free. As it stopped I heard the now-dreaded squeal of a headcrab attacking. Jumping back, crowbar held high, I looked around, trying to find my stalker. A splash, a low moan, then silence. Looking down, I see the dead body of the headcrab floating in the shallow water. I must have tried to jump to me, but gravity worked too well today. Under it, beneath those boards, a body. Prying them up, I see it clearly. Obviously a headcrab zombie, but I've never seen one like this. Brown, naked, skin gone, long legs, what is this? I shook off the confusion, and proceeded to climb. Reaching the top, I paused, panting a bit. No wonder the headcrab died from this height. Straightening, I walked through the run-down, rotting hallway to an opening to a grisly courtyard. Half of a body hung from a tree, the lower half nowhere to be seen. Stepping out, I hear a clunk. I was standing on a sign reading Ravenholm. Now I wonder where I could be?

Half grinning at my terrible attempt at humor, I took two steps and froze. A loud pop invaded my ears, followed closely by faint thunder and a high-pitched scream. I turned my head in time to see a body fall into some bushes with a 'whump' noise, then begin to moan. What is going on?

**O**

**Dun dun DUUUUUN! The begging has begun! What has happened to our heroines? If you can't guess, I will beat you with a tube sock.**

**So. Love it? Hate it? Wish for more? Wish it had never been spawned? Feedback people, feedback!**


	2. Chips Are Thrown

**Here I am, updating once more! I know! I'm fast, aren't I? Well, no use saying words anymore! Here you go!**

**O**

The woman shook her head, short brown hair rumpled, tamed by a small headband. Her brown vest was open, revealing her custom pistol. Opening her eyes, they widened at the sight of two different gun barrels pointing right at her head. And angry looking man with a gruff voice and too many tattoos glared at her.

"Where's Zoey? What'd you do to her?"

"Calm down, Francis. It's alright ma'am. We ain't gonna hurt ya." An elderly man with a cigarette offered a hand, helping the woman to her feet. "Can you tell us what happened to our friend?" The woman held her head in her hand, face pale.

"I'm sorry. I don't even know what happened to me. I was fighting the Combine, trying to get to my father, and this strange man stepped in front of me. He gave me a creepy smile, and then I was dropped off here." The black man stepped from the doorway, assault rifle gripped tightly.

"Combine? What's a Combine?"

"How can you not know? They've taken over the Earth!" The older man glanced at Francis, clearly confused.

"The only thing that's taken over the world here is the infected."  
"I'm sorry, infected?" Francis' shoulders sagged, giving the woman an exasperated look.

"How can you _not_ know what the infected are? Flesh eating, howling, used to be you and me, now they're no more'n monsters? Ring any bells?"  
"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about." Francis looked ready to explode when a burbling growl filled the room. All four turned to the doorway to see a grey-skinned and fat man looking at them with milky, dead eyes. His mouth and hands were coated in dried blood, and his throat looked as if the skin had bubbled out. The stench was horrible, and the woman covered her mouth. "Ugh, what _is_ that?" The other three jumped up guns ready. The black man began firing, followed shortly by the other two.

"BOOMER! Take cover!" In the small room, with the Boomer charging at them, it was hard to even aim, let alone hit the monster. He clawed the black man, knocking him to the ground.

"AH! Help! HELP!" The others fired wildly, trying not to their friend on the ground. Then, five clear shots split the air. Rapid fire they slammed into the Boomer's forehead, sending it stumbling back and collapsing with a low moan. They all turned to the woman, her pistol held high, glaring at the monster. Francis moved to the fallen man, helping him to his feet as the older man only stared. Francis cleared his throat, looking at the Boomer. The older man stepped forward, his hunting rifle held close.

"Uh, good to see you're good with a gun. The name's Bill. That's Louis, and you've already met Francis." He rubbed the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed at being out gunned by a woman. "So, you have no idea where our friend Zoey is?"  
"I'm sorry, I didn't see anyone when I fell in here. My name is Alyx Vance." There was a wet gurgling, and the Boomer began to swell up, his stench growing in power each second.

"Look out! It's gonna blow!" They all stumbled back as the Boomer exploded, chunks flying all around the room, and a vile slime coating everything. Alyx curled her lips, her nose wrinkled with distaste.

"What _is _that? It's disgusting!" A loud howling filled the room followed closely by the pounding of countless feet.

"Look out! Horde's coming!" Louis and Francis kneeled down, pointing their weapons at the door. Bill took a step back, his hunting rifle at the ready. "Get ready for on helluva fight, Miss Vance!"

Alyx gripped he pistol as she stared at the door, waiting for whatever was coming after them to charge in. The Horde did charge in, however not from where they were expecting. Bursting through a broken wall, the Horde ambushed them, taking them completely by surprise. Bill pushed several back with his rifle as Alyx backed up, firing her automatic pistol, taking their heads clean off each time she squeezed the trigger. Louis and Francis jumped up, assault rifle blazing and shotgun roaring. The three men held off many infected, but Alyx was quickly being overrun. For each infected she killed, three more took its place. There were too many for her to handle, and she fell to the ground, covering her head and curling up, the infected bashing her with bloody fists. Shots rang out, and the bodies surrounding Alyx fell quickly. Soon, all was quiet, save for the pounding of her heart. Bill kneeled down, helping Alyx to her knees.

"Are you alright, Miss Vance?"  
"I-I think so. There were just so many, I couldn't hold them back! Headcrab zombies, they're so slow, and they only come one or two at a time…I couldn't stop them."  
"Headcrab…? I don't know what you're talking about, but you better suck it up and get better at killing the infected, or you'll get real dead, real fast!" Louis grabbed Francis' arm, pulling him sharply to the side.

"Hey, lay off man! She ain't from around here, she didn't know!" Louis led Francis out of the room, still chastising him. Bill gave Alyx a small smile, taking off his med-pack and placing it on the ground, unzipping it and pulling out bandages and disinfectant.

"Hold still, let me patch you up."  
"Thank you." Bill got to work, placing bandages over her many cuts, taping them down and cleaning them out. After a few minutes he put the rest of the materials in the med-pack, closing it and helping Alyx up.

"There you go."  
"Thank you. Where I come from, we just inject ourselves with nanites. They instantly heal our wounds, mend bones, stop internal bleeding."  
"Well, around here we do things the old-fashioned way. Can you walk?"  
"Yah. Thank you."  
"No problem. Come with us. We heard that there's a rescue chopper on top of a hospital that'll take us to safety."  
"Thank you. I hope you find your friend soon." They went out together, catching up to the other two, leaving the apartments with few other encounters. Opening a door, they were greeted by fresh air, burning cars, screams, moans, and a few scattered infected in the streets. Francis hefted his shotgun to his shoulder, a smile on his face.  
"I guess the party's just getting started!"


	3. Players Set

**I know what you're all thinking. "Where have you been, D-Man?" "Why haven't you been updating, D-Man?" "The government isn't following you on the Internet D-Man, you're just being paranoid." "The blue jays can't steal your soul, you're just being paranoid!" WELL I'M NOT PARANOID! HOW MANY OF YOU DO I HAVE TO KILL TO PROVE IT?**

**oOo**

_**Zoey's POV**_

Zoey shook her head, ponytail swaying back and forth. She looked around, dazed and confused. Where were her friends? Where was this place? How did she get here? All she remembered was walking around a corner, and then…Nothing. Well, wherever she was, it wasn't in the apartment complex. The sky was dark, clouds swirling around a full moon, the cold wind blowing through the old, decrepit buildings, screams carried with them. Some small part of her wanted to shudder at the screams, be disturbed and frightened. But she couldn't bring herself to do that. If she still had her humanity, she would have been killed long ago. She shook her head once more, freeing herself from those thoughts. First things first. She had to figure out where she was. Gazing around, Zoey took account of everything around her. Boarded up building, nothing new there. Overgrown weeds, who can keep up gardening during the end of the world? A lower torso hanging from a tree, gross, but she'd seen worse. A man in an orange armored suit pointing an MP-7 at her head, wait what?

"Woah! I'm not an Infected! I'm alive! Don't kill me!" The man's face remained unchanged, mouth set in a permanent frown. He did lower his gun though, which made Zoey a little happy.

"Thanks. Do you know where I am?" The man's gaze turned to the right, staring at a fallen sign. Climbing to her feet, she looked down at it.

"Ravenholm? I've never heard of this place." She turned to the man in time to see him walk away, surprisingly quiet in that bulky suit.

"Hey, wait up! It's dangerous to travel alone!" She jogged after him, grabbing his shoulder.

"I don't know who you think you are, but no one is safe anymore. Not even with some crazy space-suit." The man stopped, cocking his head to the side. Zoey heard it too, a shuffling noise, as if someone was dragging something across the ground. They both turned around, the man with his gun raised, Zoey with her mouth agape, doing her best not to vomit. What she saw was disgusting, and she was coated with Boomer bile on more than one occasion.

It shuffled forward, one leg bent and twisted, looking as if it had been broken three times over. Its midsection was split open, white shirt stained bright red with blood. Its ribcage was twisted and broken, looking more like a grotesque mouth than anything else. The monster's insides were open and exposed, rotting inside of the beast, yellowing and stinking worse than a burning Boomer. The stomach was burst open, and it looked like the entrails of another person were hanging out. Its hands were twisted up, bones extended into fierce talons, longer than even a Witch's. Dripping blood fell from the appendages, the huge claws twitching towards the two in front of it. Its head wasn't a head at all, or so it seemed. A fleshy mask was covering it, pulsing in time with the creature's exposed heart. Two claws dug into the poor soul's shoulders, keeping whatever it was on tight. But the noise, the terrible moaning was the worst. Not the soulless howls of the Infected, no, these were far worse. From under the fleshy creature came a voice, muffled and garbled, but entirely human and in pain.

"God help me! Please help me!" Zoey began backing up, covering her mouth with her hands, horrified at what she was seeing. This person should be dead and buried, but here he was, shuffling forward, body split open, hands mutated, something covering his face. Alive through this hell.

"_No. Not even hell would put someone through this form of torture."_ She looked at the man, expecting horror at this sight, someone was _alive_ under that monster. She did not expect to see impassiveness, almost boredom. He raised his sub-machine gun, firing a short burst up from its lower torso to its head, killing the creature, knocking it off, and mulching the man's insides. Then, he turned around, passing Zoey without a second glance back.

"Wh-what the hell is wrong with you? He was alive under that!" Zoey grabbed him again, forcing him to stop.

"You could have saved him! You didn't need to kill him!" Openly frowning, the man walked to the body, turning him over and letting Zoey see something she wished she hadn't. The back of his head was split open, the hair torn away, the opening surrounded by teeth marks. The brain inside was pulp, looking as if something had bitten into the man. The spinal cord was exposed and clean, no blood staining it. The man walked to the monster, kicking it over to Zoey. It landed bottom up, revealing a large, circular mouth with rings of teeth surround a large beak inside.

"This…Thing jumps onto your head and eats your brain?" The man nodded, then turned once more to an old building, doorway boarded by a few loose planks. He pulled out a crowbar, smashing the wood in a single blow, the splinters falling all around him. He then walked through, ignoring the blood-stained floors and walls.

"Hey, wait!" Zoey ran inside the building after the man, then stopped short, bile rising in her throat. Huge saws covered the walls, one embedded into the wooden planking with the upper torso of one of the freaky things in top, its lower torso slumped against the wall beneath. The man walked past it without a glance, looking at a table pushed against the next doorway. Zoey had never seen anything like this man. He was impassive about the horrors he was walking past while she, forced to kill her roommate and best friend, forced to join with three people she didn't know to fight their way through every city or town they passed, forced to kill and bathe in blood daily, was horrified at this new terror in her life. She had seen terrible things in her life, more than she would like to count. But this was new. She flinched as rapid gunfire sounded next to her, followed by a garbled choking. She turned in time to see the man walk into the room, table pushed aside.

"_Well, if I want to live through this, I'd better make friends with whoever this is."_

oOo

**HA! This is pretty impressive, if I do say so myself! Do any of you know how hard it is to make dialogue for someone who doesn't speak? Yah, it sucks! Ironic, because I love writing him! Well, I'm off to eat my weight in yogurt, so read, review and relax! Oh, and message me with your favorite fighters. I'm thinking of making a collection of one-shots, of just everyone's ideas of a kick-ass fight. Any two you want, from any Universe. Master Chief and Pikachu, Samus and Tweety Bird, whatever you guys want!**


	4. Let The Games Begin

**Woo! I'm on a roll! Two new chapters, of **_**the same story!**_** It's gotta be some sort of record for me! Yay me! And my team of course! Charles, Paul and Sean! (Not real people) WOO!**

**o0o**

They crept down the street quietly, eyes peeled for any infected that might attack them. Thankfully they made it to the other side without anything noticing them. Jogging down the stairway, they walked through a narrow hallway, Francis and Louis in front, Alyx behind them with Bill covering the rear. They made it to the end of the tunnel, the smell of smoke and burning flesh reaching their noses. Francis took a peek around the corner, a smile forming on his face as he aimed his shotgun. The roar of the gun and the flashes from the muzzle couldn't mask the moans of dying infected. Francis pulled the shotgun to his shoulder, turning around to face the other three.

"Alright, all clear!" However, he failed to notice the long, slimy appendage wrap around his torso and yank him back from the others. "Ah! What the hell?"

"Francis!" Louis ran forward, his assault rifle in front of him. Bill and Alyx were right behind him, stopping short as Francis was pulled down a large hole and attacked by a disgusting monster. Alyx covered her mouth at the sight of its blood-stained claws, pulsing boils covering its face, and long tongue currently wrapped around Francis, dripping with saliva and glistening in the light of the fire next to it. Bill aimed his rifle at the thing's head, blowing it off cleanly. A huge blast of smoke filled the small hole, obscuring Francis from view. It was rancid and stunk to high heaven. Alyx covered her mouth as Louis dropped down, helping Francis to his feet through the haze. Bill offered her a handkerchief with a small smile on his face.

"We call 'em Smokers. Bet you can't guess why." Alyx managed a short laugh before covering her face and following Bill into the hole. They ran through the smoke, coming across a stairway, the path up covered in burning rubble, the path down clear.

"Guess we go down."  
"I hate stairs." They jogged down the stairs, walking into a subway terminal dotted with a few infected. Alyx quickly dispatched one with her pistol, missing a few shots as it stumbled when her shots hit it. Bill and Louis finished the last one when a loud howl tore through the subway and Alyx found herself knocked to the ground by a hooded infected. She screamed as its full weight landed on her, and it raised its claws to slash down on her when Bill tackled it off her and Francis blew its head clean off with a single blast.

"Here, lemme help you up."  
"Thanks, Bill. I'm not used to these things."  
"Yah, we you better get used to them real fast, or I'll shoot you here and end both our misery!"  
"Francis! Come on, we're going on recon!"  
"Whatever you say, Louis." Both of them walked into the train tunnels, creeping into the darkness beyond as Bill looked over Alyx.

"Sorry about him. He's always been unreasonable, but for some reason you just set him off."  
"Don't I feel lucky then."  
"Heh heh. Come on, you don't look to bad. Those bandages still holdin'?"

"Yes, thanks to you." Bill was about to reply when Louis ran back into the terminal, Francis backpedaling after him, shooting his shotgun frantically.

"Witch! Wiiiiitch!"  
"A what?"  
"Something bad!" Francis was reloading when a girl shot around the corner, shrieking wildly, huge caws reaching forward. Francis was knocked to the ground as the Witch's red eyes turned to Louis, who was firing his assault rifle at it. It ran forward, slashing at Louis, knocking him into a wall. It turned to Bill and Alyx, howling like a banshee, claws outstretched at them.

"Alyx, RUN!" However, Alyx didn't run. She calmly pulled out her pistol as the Witch tore towards her, ducking under the initial strike and catching it under the chin with her gun. Five shots tore through the monster's head, dropping it to the ground in a lifeless slump. Francis was staring at Alyx in wonderment as Louis helped him up, Bill's cigarette in danger of falling out of his gaping mouth.  
"How did you do that?" Alyx shrugged, nonchalantly tucking her pistol back onto her belt.

"There's a headcrab zombie that acts just like this Witch. Only it runs on all fours, and can jump to the top of a building in one jump. It howls like an animal as it attacks, drawing other headcrab zombies towards it. It's also about twice as fast, so killing this thing was pretty easy." They were all silent for a solid minute, staring at the girl they so often had to protect. Bill began laughing at Louis and Bill's faces, wiping away a tear as he looked back to Alyx.  
"Heh heh heh! Good to know where you're from isn't all a picnic!" He walked past Louis and Francis, giving the biker a slap on the back. "Close your mouth, Francis. Zoey's not the only one who can kick your sorry can!" He walked into the tunnel, still giggling to himself, Alyx close behind, Louis following after a few moments. Francis was left staring at the body of the Witch Alyx so easily killed, shaking his head and walking down the tunnel after he other three.

"_This girl's gonna be tough to beat."_

**o0o**

**Yah! Go Team Retard! We did it! Another chapter! And if any of you flame me, Karma Charger's gonna come and beat you up! Keep messaging me, guys. I want to see your favorite fights. Who would win between Kirby and Meta Ridly? How about Master Chief and an Antlion Guard? Any two that you want to see fight, PM it to me! Who knows, maybe I'll make a tournament out of it!**


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